NSBA 2026-27 President Leonard Lockhart
New NSBA President Leonard Lockhart, a proud product of Hartford, Connecticut, was raised in the Bellevue Square housing projects. In his first ASBJ column, Lockhart reflects on the challenges he faced, his educational journey, and the parents and community members who fueled his drive to build a better life for himself and all children.
July 20, 2026
This is my first column as NSBA president, and I’d like to introduce myself to those of you I haven’t met yet. I didn’t take a traditional journey to get where I am today but, in that way, I am like so many of the students in our classrooms across the country.
I'm a proud product of Hartford, Connecticut, raised in the Bellevue Square housing projects of Hartford’s North End. I attended Old Arsenal, a massive traditional brick building that was named after and looked like the State Arsenal that once stood nearby.
Old Arsenal was torn down in the late 1970s, replaced with classrooms, libraries, and health services that were scattered across different buildings and integrated into the nearby housing complexes. The goal was to break down the walls between the school and the community.
It was a great idea, but, by the late 1980s, Hartford’s North End was heavily impacted by the crack cocaine epidemic and a rise in gang violence. Having students walk from building to building in an increasingly dangerous neighborhood became a source of anxiety for parents and staff.
Inside those classrooms, my teachers often told me it was a waste of time educating us in the projects. They said I would never make it out of my 20s because I’d be dead, in prison, or in a gang.
Fortunately, I heard a different message from my parents and community members. They filled me with hopes and dreams.
Their positive messages mixed with the blood, sweat, and tears I experienced through hard ghetto living fueled me to work for a better life for me and for all children.
I decided to stay home to attend a primarily white institution, the University of Hartford, rather than a historically Black college or university. I wanted to bridge the gap between the world I knew and the global society I saw emerging.
The harsh fiscal, academic, cultural, and social lessons I learned as a first-generation college attendee sharpened my sense of reality and accountability. I began to see myself in relation to an increasingly globalized world, where access was becoming harder to reach for students like me.
Although attending the University of Hartford was the best decision of my life at that point, I learned that not everyone wanted to attend college. Some valued trades and military. Others went directly into the workforce after high school.
Those lessons taught me that public education is responsible for preparing students for the next chapters in their lives—whatever that next chapter might be.
It is our job to ensure students and educators find the genius, justice, and joy of their educational process. Together, we are the bedrock of public education, moving as one for every child we serve.
Guided by the mandates of the NSBA Delegate Assembly, we are committed to working with any group that aligns with our mission to support public school students. We seek partnership, not competition. Let us move beyond past divisions to ensure the 50 million children we represent have a singular, powerful voice in Washington. We are brothers and sisters, and no one can tell me differently.
As I embrace this NSBA Presidency, I promise to be a unifying leader. Your NSBA Board of Directors, NSBA Executive Director, and staff are committed to difficult work and conversations. It will not be easy. However, we embrace the awesome responsibility and opportunity to lead by example for our state and federal branches of government.
Leonard Lockhart, the 2026-27 president of NSBA, is a member of the Windsor Board of Education in Connecticut.